A blog to air residents' concerns, complaints and praise for our City's Management.

Monday, December 29, 2008

The House on Clifton Responds to City Hall, August 27, 2007

The plan was to give the readers exact copies of letters with the simple double click of a hyperlink. After finding that the Google Docs technology did not work as anticipated with regard to sharing PDFs, the next adventure will be through Adobe. Meanwhile, readers have not been able to access the documents referred to yesterday. Very frustrating!

So, while still trying to fix this technical glitch, following is a "cut and paste" version of the first letter my brother sent to the City of Highland Park, after receiving the City's demand that he sign a "Temporary License." The letter was addressed to Mary Anderson, with copies to Mayor Belsky, all City Councilmen and the Corporation Counsel. If this is your first visit to the blog, please be sure to go back and read previous entries. Thanks for taking the time to be informed. Please share your comments.

The City of Highland Park and the Department of Public Works have notified me invarious mailings that repair work related to storm sewers and “sanitary service lines” isbeing planned for the Sunset Woods neighborhood and a few other select neighborhoods.I have serious concerns and objections about the work that is planned, apparently nowcontracted, and the way it has been “proposed” to various homeowners by the City ofHighland Park and Department of Public Works. As it appears that the City Councilvoted on many of the related issues, Mayor Michael Belsky and the City Councilmembers are copied on this letter, as well as the Corporation Counsel.

I, and other homeowners as a class, have been told that our service lines need to berepaired based on tests that were conducted; and that we as the homeowners must bear atleast 80% of the financial burden of paying for those repairs. To date, we have never beentold specifically the results and findings of the “testing,” house by house, the nature ofthe specific problem with our particular line, where it was in the line, and precisely whatwork would be done to correct the problem if a city contractor performed the work.

With the original notification, not only were we not told the specifics of the problem, theCity had not yet selected a contractor (one must assume this is done by competitivebidding but information about the bidders has not been shared with homeowners) who would outline the nature the of the work to be done for each line, for each homeowner,and provide a specific and detailed bill for the anticipated work. Detailed informationabout those bids is relevant to the homeowners, as each repair may differ, and especiallyif resident homeowners wish to contract with any other service provider at less cost.The City of Highland Park has provided only very limited information, without any detailto which we are entitled. Individual homeowners were originally informed only that theywould be held financially responsible for some undefined “sanitary service line work”contracted by the City to be done on our respective private properties. Furthermore, wewere originally informed that we would be required to sign a “Temporary License forSanitary Sewer Testing and Repair Work” (“Temporary License”). This licenseagreement was little more than an unreasonable blanket waiver of all rights and claimsagainst, and a complete indemnification of, the City and the contractors. The demand wasmade with the threat against the homeowners that, should they not sign this agreement onthe City’s schedule, they would suffer from a “violation notice with [a] time frame tocorrect and no City cost share” as well as “fines and penalties which may include watershutoff.” Serious demands, serious threats – all without the City providing a stitch ofrelevant information to the homeowners about cost, results of testing, or specificsconcerning individual properties.

One doubts whether the Mayor or any member of the City Council has received such anotice for their own homes. If any have, one could only question their judgment andknowledge of the way a city government should work for the benefit of its residents.Further, the initial message sent to the taxpaying voters and homeowners of theHighlands, Ridgeway and Sunset Woods focused on “financing options” including “1)payment in full at the time of improvements; 2) property owner-secured home equityfinancing; 3) the City-subsidized low interest loan program available through the FirstBank of Highland Park.” (How was the First Bank of Highland Park chosen over otherarea banks? Who decided on the percentage of the loan? The City again has not beenforthcoming and we have a right to expect answers.) The amount of these costs remaineda mystery through several letters to these homeowners, until, finally, in an August 15,2007 letter – within 15 days of the date in which the City demands a return of the“Temporary License” -- the City reveals to the homeowner a glimpse of financial burden:“We understand an exact amount may not be known, however the City feels noindividual service repair will exceed $10,000.”

In case the City has not been paying attention to the news, there is a serious creditproblem in the housing market now. Homes are losing their value. Credit is crunched.How many residents will be pushed over the edge based on this unreasonable demand forunbudgeted and unanticipated expenses demanded by the City?

Whom should the homeowner trust to ensure that the (as yet unspecified) work is doneproperly and for fair value? The City which has apparently bungled this matter from theoutset? The audacity of requesting that residents sign a waiver and indemnify the Citywas just a small part of the mismanagement of this issue. Fortunately, it seems that otherresidents spoke up and the City has now backed off from that thoughtless, capricious andunfair demand – which until a few days ago had the imprimatur of City Hall and thethreat of penalties and water shut off for refusal to sign.

I hope that my fellow residents of Highland Park will reject this action taken by the City,based on the inherent unfairness of the proposal, as well as its lack of specificinformation and the considerable financial burden that will be placed on homeowners formaking these repairs.

The City needs to have a historic perspective on the issues at hand. When my parentsbuilt the home at xxxx Clifton Avenue during 1954/55, the home, including its sanitarysystem, was built according to City code. From the time the house was built, there wereserious issues and problems pertaining to storm and sanitary sewers in Sunset Woods andseveral other neighborhoods in the City. Year after year, my parents paid their taxes,asked for relief and infrastructure appropriate for our neighborhood yet these issues wereneglected by the City. This is a situation which many of my fellow neighbors throughoutthe City are very familiar with in their neighborhoods, with their homes, particularlythose who’ve been a part of this community for many years. I have been the tax payingowner of the house for many years and I and my neighbors deserve to be treated fairly,and not by fiat. The City should have budgeted to address the storm and sanitary sewersrather than foist, what the City calls, this “unexpected expenditure” on individualhomeowners.

Indeed, instead of the City resolving the issues with taxes, it continues to allow thebuilders to increase the density of Highland Park beyond the ability of the infrastructureto absorb the increased population. And, it has allowed for more impervious surfaces,more houses, condominiums, commercial development, parking lots, placing greaterdemands on streets, sanitary lines, storm sewers, flood plains. It requires new andremodeled homes to hook up to the storm sewers. It is hardly equitable that the City isgoing to homeowners of older properties and demanding that we bear the financialresponsibility for this management of storm sewers. The work to be done is intended tobenefit the whole and the whole should pay for it.

It is inappropriate to demand that residents sign agreements and proceed with significantfinancial decisions based on a lack of information. Please provide the results of thetesting done at my property, describe the work to be done, provide an accurate estimatefor it which any reputable contractor would have provided by now and disclose thecontractor(s), so I can call others to seek other bids.

I also request that you provide the names and contact information for all homeownerswho have been contacted by the City with regard to these repairs. If the City Councildoes not take care of these issues, it will be appropriate to reach out to everyone who isaffected by the City’s demands.The residents of Highland Park deserve a plan for infrastructure that’s equitable, not anad hoc “plan,” hastily construed, that’s imposed without regard to what’s fair andreasonable. When the City of Highland Park provides the requested and specificinformation for our home (and would expect no less for our fellow homeowners) and cananswer some of the troubling questions raised, I will then decide the best alternatives topursue concerning repairs.